THE local forestry industry is like many others always looking for staff, and it has signalled how serious it is.

Recently the Green Triangle Forest Industries Hub – the overarching body for the forestry industry in the region – appointed Josh Praolini as its workforce development manager, a respected figure in the education industry in Mount Gambier.

Hub acting general manager Scott Whicker told the Observer Mr Praolini’s role would extend across the border as the industry sought out young locals to make it their career.

“The really important thing for us is to provide avenues into training and education that will follow on into a forestry career,” he said.

“That means getting into the minds of kids when they’re making their career choice to think of forestry.

“Kids hear a lot about the mining industry, and they’ve done a good job with that, but we want people when they make a career choice to consider all the opportunities that are available.

“That’s not necessarily doing a forestry degree, there’s a lot of jobs available.

“Innovation and technology are driving efficiency in the industry and there are (vocational education and training) pathways as well as university pathways and it’s about us making people aware of what those opportunities are.

“It’s a really exciting time to be coming into the industry.”

The Hub was forming a workforce development committee which “would look forward to build those pathways”.

“The key focus first will be Years 8-10,” Mr Whicker said.

“That’s the first phase of kids thinking what their career might be.”

Mr Whicker replaces Liz McKinnon in the role – the latter has been appointed South Australia’s Cross Border Commissioner – and the former manager of Kimberley Clark’s Millicent mill (among many other roles in the forestry and mining industries) said he was excited about the opportunities ahead for forestry.

The most recent study into the economic value of forestry in the Victorian part of the Green Triangle region, in June this year, found it had an annual turnover of $482 million, supporting 907 jobs and $78 million in wages, as well as a further 1200 jobs indirectly – all up about 4.6 per cent of the regional economy from the border to Colac.

“It’s extremely important to this region,” Mr Whicker said.

“There’s a lot of economic activity that occurs through growing, processing, haulage or harvesting and we need to grow the estate because the demand for timber in Australia is rising as timber is a proven technology in a decarbonising world for sequestering carbon.

“We want to grow the forest to make 100 per cent use of any tree that we grow.”

To that end there have been schemes on both sides of the border to encourage landholders to plant more trees – the federal government set a target of one billion trees nationally by 2050 as the demand for structural timber in Australia is predicted to double by 2040.

There’s also the export-focused grant announced by the former federal government at the Port of Portland in April this year looking at making engineered wood products out of residues from the China log trade (pine and hardwood).

“Can we value add to that,” Mr Whicker said.

“We need to make the most of the timber that is being used.”

There’s also SA government money for a centre of excellence for forestry research in Mount Gambier and Mr Whicker said “it would be great to get some Victorian funding for that because the outcomes will be for the region as a whole”.

“The border will not be recognised in the outcomes,” he said.

“We look at the Green Triangle as a whole, not just South Australia.

“The border is an imaginary line.”